7 Excuses I’ve Made to Cancel Plans and Keep Reading

It’s that time of year again! The holiday season is upon us and that means ton of invites for festive parties and celebrations. But with the year coming to an end, that also means my annual reading challenge is almost over as well. Somehow, every year I start off strong, keeping up with my goal of one book per week on average, for 52 books a year, but somewhere along the way I fall behind, and it’s a mad scramble to read a bunch in the final months of the year to hit that aimed-for number.

So how do I keep up with my social commitments and still manage to meet my reading goal? Well, confession: I sometimes…only on rare occasions…almost never, really…come up with an excuse to skip out on plans in order to stay home and cuddle up with a cup of hot cocoa and my book. (But shhhh, don’t tell any of my friends, because they won’t ever let me live it down.) Here are seven excuses that I’m guilty of using.

Excuse #1: “My [insert family member] just texted me and said they are in town for the night. I have to go meet them…so annoying!”

Everybody can understand family obligations, so a family member visiting from out of town is a perfect exit strategy.

Excuse #2: “My boss just moved up the deadline on my project, so I gotta work late today to finish it, ugh.”

When in doubt, blame your boss.

Excuse #3: “I’m so sorry. I double-booked plans tonight. Can we meet up later this week instead?”

Chances are they also double booked and/or secretly hoping you’ll cancel so that they can spend a night in with a bottle of wine and Netflix, so it’s okay, right? 

Excuse #4: Illness.

Nobody is going to call you out on this one. Like I said, it’s that time of year when everybody has a party to attend—and they don’t want to get sick either.

Excuse #5: Pretty much any transportation issue.

There’s a wealth of commuting issues that you can use, no matter where you live! And while travel issues are incredibly frustrating most of the time, in this case, they can be a major win, as excuses go:

• “My car broke down, can you believe it?”
• “My subway line is experiencing major delays/isn’t running this weekend.”
• “Uber is surging like crazy right now. I can’t pay $$$$ to come out there.”
• “The snow is really coming downwon’t even make it out of the driveway.”

Excuse #6: Laundry.

Everybody has to do it and nobody wants to do it/has the time to do it. Unless you live in a city where wash-and-fold drop-off exists, this is a great one. (Unfortunately for me, whenever I try to use laundry as an excuse, my friends tend to remind me that there are a thousand wash-and-fold places in New York.)

Excuse #7: “My favorite author/artist/musician is in town for a signing/event/concert at that exact same time.”

There is no way you are missing that. This excuse only works if your friend isn’t a fan of that entertainer. And the entertainer should actually be in town; otherwise, your friend can call you out for your white lie.